Lost in the two straight dramatic wins that have the Rockies within spittin’ distance of first place is a bizarre series of exchanges from Monday’s game that, according to the Denver Post, is likely going to get some umpires disciplined:

Several Rockies alleged after Monday’s
dramatic, 14th-inning 6-4 victory that second-base umpire Bill Miller
called catcher Yorvit Torrealba a derogatory name while the catcher was
a baserunner late in the game . . . Tensions began to escalate because,
Torrealba said, Miller insulted him, saying that he was out of line by
showing up Campos during the game with his body language on
questionable calls against Rockies pitchers. A witness to the incident
said that Miller referred to his own experience as an umpire in
explaining why he had the right to criticize Torrealba’s actions,
though he wasn’t working the plate.

As that was going on, Rockies’ reliever Huston Street started jawing at first base umpire Jim Joyce, telling him that he needed to get Miller to lay off of Torrealba. Instead, Joyce came to the dugout and got into it with Street. After the game, during the celebration after Spilborghs’ homer, Torrelaba apparently had some nasty words with Campos and/or Miller.

Bob Watson is looking into it all, and if the Post’s story is accurate, there had better be some discipline against the umps. This has been a pretty bad year for umpire behavior, and at some point baseball needs to send a message to them that they need to rise above whatever petty baloney they feel the players and managers are doing during a game and do their job.

If I was in charge of umpires I’d order them not to even argue back during heated exchanges because nothing looks sillier than a manager ranting and raving to a stone faced ump. Going way beyond that and actually calling out players during a game for what they perceive to be disrespect is utterly unacceptable.

In order to legitimize their authority, umps need to take the high road. It seems that the only way they’ll be inspired to do that is for Bob Watson to knock them down a few pegs. Watson and baseball has been loathe to do that when necessary, but they desperately need to do it now.

The Oakland Athletics ballpark saga has dragged on for years and years and years. They’ve considered San Jose, Fremont and at least three locations in Oakland as potential new ballpark sites. The whole process has lasted almost as long as the Braves and Rangers played in their old parks before building new ones.

In the past several months the Athletics’ “stay in Oakland” plan has gained momentum. At one point the club thought it had an agreement to build a new place near Peralta/Laney College in downtown Oakland. There have been hiccups with that, so two other sites — Howard Terminal, favored by city officials — and the current Oakland Coliseum site have remained in play. There are pros and cons to each of these sites, as we have discussed in the past.

One consideration not mentioned before was mentioned by team president David Kaval yesterday: sea level rise due to climate change. From the San Francisco Chronicle:

Kaval mentioned twice that the Howard Terminal site would have to take into account sea-level rise and transportation concerns — and he said there have been conversations with the city and county and the Joint Powers Authority about developing the Coliseum site.

The Howard Terminal/Jack London Square area of Oakland has been identified as susceptible to dramatically increased flooding as a result of projected sea level rise due to climate change. On the other side of the bay both the San Francisco Giants and Golden State Warriors have had to consider sea level rise in their stadium/arena development plans. Now it’s the Athletics’ turn.

Fifteen of Major League Baseball’s 30 teams play in coastal areas and another five of them play near the Great Lakes. While some of our politicians don’t seem terribly concerned about it all, people and organizations who will have skin the game 10, 20 and 50 years from now, like the Oakland Athletics, are taking it into account.